Isis, Glaxo To Collaborate On GeneTrove
BY MARION WEBB
Senior Staff Writer
Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares rose slightly in trading after the San Diego-based biotechnology firm said it signed a collaborative agreement with the pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline.
Company stock reached $7 in daytime trading on Dec. 12, up 1.45 percent from the closing price of $6.90 on the previous day.
The agreement gives Philadelphia-based GlaxoSmithKline access to certain gene technology as well as a license to intellectual property of Isis’ “GeneTrove” genomics program, Isis said on Dec. 11.
Michelle Bider, an analyst with Roth Capital Partners, LLC. in Los Angeles, said in a research report, “We believe that this collaboration further validates antisense technology and Isis’ strong presence in this field.”
Financial details were not disclosed.
Last month, Isis said its GeneTrove unit was unsuccessful in generating clients for its database product and therefore stopped the product and laid off workers.
The unit, however, continues to offer target validation services and licenses to bigger drugmakers that rely on this information to speed up their drug discovery programs.
Companies including Eli Lilly, Amgen, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline all have signed agreements with Isis’ GeneTrove unit.
Earlier this month, Isis stock took a 22 percent hit after a prominent Wall Street analyst downgraded the firm’s stock and expressed doubts about Isis’ experimental drug Affinitac.
“Checks with investigators involved in the trial have not yielded positive responses We are not as confident as we once were about a successful outcome of this trial,” said Andrew Gitkin, an analyst at UBS Warburg in New York.
Gitkin downgraded the stock to “reduce” from “buy” on Dec. 6.
That day, Isis shares closed down $1.719, or 21.7 percent, at $6.19 on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, after hitting a 52-week low of $6 earlier in the day.
The shares rose 8 percent in after-hours trading after Isis criticized Gitkin’s analytical approach, saying he based his conclusions on “casual conversations,” Reuters reported.
Affinatic is being tested in lung cancer patients in a Phase III trial, the last stage of testing required by the Food and Drug Administration before a company can apply for drug approval.